The Bee Dungeon-Chapter 269: Challenging Bee-liveries

Belissar had acquired the desired feature and everyone was exhausted at that point, so they all adjourned for the night. The next morning, he set about to implement some of the desired features. He added an almond tree node to both of the Orchards, the one with the shortcut wall and the one on the karnuq floor, then added a couple of goopy mud pits to the battle bog. With that completed, he made his way to the Orchard grove and the spiderkin camp there. The spiderkin lit up and skittered over to him as soon as they saw him.

“King!”

Belissar smiled as they all danced salutes.

“Hi there. I was going to set up a rabbit den now, would you all like to see the room with the rabbits?”

The First Spiderkin Queen’s eyes widened and she threw her hands up.

“Meat!”

The other spiderkin soon followed and before long Belissar had a bunch of young spiderkin running around shouting “Meat!”

“Ok then, follow me!”

The spiderkin continued to chant “Meat!” as they lined up in a column behind him, with the spiderkin queen leading them. Belissar led them through the shortcut wall to the butcher meadow. They all marched over to the butcher hives, where the butchers and the first bloodsucking queen were just greeting a newly spawned bloodsucker. Belissar smiled at them.

“Hi everyone, I’m going to add a rabbit den. It should spawn a lot more rabbits so please be prepared for more hunting. I think the spiderkin here can help you too?”

The First Spiderkin Queen grinned and nodded enthusiastically, while the First Butcher released salute pheromones. The butcher and bloodsucking queens then followed along with some of their workers and soldiers as Belissar led the group a bit further away from their hives. The butchers noticed the spiderkin chanting “meat,” and soon joined in with buzzing and pheromones.

“Ok, is this a good spot?”

The First Butcher enthusiastically confirmed in between the “Meat!” chants. Belissar laughed.

“Ok, here we go.”

The room filled with cheers and buzzing as Belissar moved to place his first basic animal den.

Available animal dens for Flower Meadow:

- Field Mouse (Mana Upkeep: 3)

- Rabbit (Mana Upkeep: 3)

He could apparently spawn field mice as well, but he kept it simple for now, heeding Tarwantrad’s warnings on excessive plant eaters. The rabbit den appeared as a hole in the ground, much like the bloodsucking bee spawners only much larger. Belissar confirmed the placement and the hole dug itself out of the ground.

Before long, a rabbit crawled out of the hole…and was immediately set upon by the butcher bee soldiers.

“Meat!”

Belissar’s face cramped but he managed to keep a smile.

“E-Enjoy.”

He decided to leave the meat lovers to their meal…

Fortunately for Belissar, Nenavann had returned to the Tower, so he went to meet with the Circle master. Nenavann had a smile on his face as Belissar approached.

“Hi, Nenavann. Did something happen?”

Nenavann nodded.

“Hello, Belissar. Yes, indeed. Thanks to the Wardmaster’s help, the signatories of the Compact have agreed to your last counteroffer with no further adjustments.”

Belissar made a tired smile.

“Finally…that felt like it took a lot…”

Nenavann chuckled.

“Indeed. Indeed it did.”

Belissar made a weak chuckle himself.

“Ok…so, do I sign a scroll or something now?”

Nenavann shook his head.

“We will prepare a compact stone like the Calwaskon Compact itself is recorded on as a focus for the magical side of the bargain. Once it is ready, there will be a signing ceremony, after which it will take effect. The plan is to place the stone and hold the ceremony in Tarwantrad’s dungeon, in the flower nursery she’s prepared for you. Is that acceptable for you?”

Belissar nodded.

“Yes, that’s fine. If it’s there, the bees and the karnuq and the other defenders can come too, right?”

Nenavann furrowed his brow.

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“Yes, there is no problem with that. Only…it may be wise to limit your entourage to bees and karnuq for the ceremony. The other humans and the spiderkin will have the same rights as them under the bargain…but their presence might provoke some of the signatories before it’s signed.”

Nenavann then made a wry smile and shrugged.

“On the other hand…perhaps it would be best for us to accept their presence immediately. I believe Queen Vanieskon and Wardmaster Varilold will move things along regardless so I’ll leave it to your discretion how you’d like to approach it.”

Belissar shrugged.

“I guess I’ll see if they even want to go, but at this point I just want to finish this up. We just found out there’s a big group of spiderkin in the Underway that even have some Towers…”

Nenavann frowned and crossed his arms.

“That’s concerning…though not unexpected. I’m assuming this is not just speculation, may I ask how you confirmed it?”

Belissar nodded.

“You know how the spiderkin learn stuff from mana? Apparently they learned more from their mother than we thought.”

Nenavann’s eyes widened slightly.

“Ah, I see. Yes, all the more reason to get the bargain signed quickly then. I’ll alert the Wardmaster to the threat if you don’t mind?”

Belissar shook his head. Nenavann rubbed his chin.

“We planned to do this as soon as possible at the Wardmaster’s insistence. Will tomorrow work for you?”

Belissar nodded enthusiastically.

“Yes, please.”

Nenavann stepped forward and patted Belissar on the shoulder.

“Good, then soon the entire Calwaskon Compact and all the fair shall commit to your defense, Belissar. You won’t face this threat alone.”

Belissar smiled back at Nenavann…then suddenly his eyes widened.

“Ah, I should tell the sigmaka about all the spiderkin!”

Nenavann’s face turned grim and he nodded.

“Yes, that would be for the best. In that case, unless you have any more concerns about the bargain or the signing ceremony, shall we both get to our work?”

Belissar agreed with that and so Nenavann departed. Belissar then immediately asked Chief Rohsuak to let the sigmaka know about the new threat…and the bargain with the fair folk while they were at it. New challenges rose ahead, but as of tomorrow they’d at least have a new ally to help them face it…

Fourth Queen Pezuya watched as her warriors stood in the dirt tunnel, facing a group of small wolf shades. They stood in a line protecting one another with shields of bone and occasionally metal, presenting a wall of spears to their foe. The wolf shades paid no attention to the danger and charged them down, barking madly. The sigmaka warriors struck them down.

The shades finally noticed the danger and jumped back. The sigmaka warriors cheered and chased down the stragglers. Fourth Queen Pezuya frowned.

“Stay in formation!”

Her shout came too late. A flood of honey sprayed out from the roof, covering a few of the sigmaka warriors. The shades turned and attacked. In the confusion, one slipped through the sigmaka, charging straight for the fourth queen and the baggage carrier behind them, the one carrying the honeydew for the bees.

It was moments like these that had caused them to fail so often, despite her warriors’ strength. But Fourth Queen Pezuya had learned, thus why she was leading from behind instead of the front. She personally stepped forward and thrust her spear into the shade, staking it to the ground before it could attack.

Once the battle was concluded she took stock of her warriors, frowning as she watched them try to wipe the sticky honey off their clothes.

“That’s why you can’t get overeager, we’ve learned this. Pramuweya, go check the passage ahead. After that, we’ll signal our surrender.”

The whole band groaned but the Fourth Queen held firm.

“You know what happens if you ignore being drenched in maddening honey. Next time, hold your ground.”

The sigmaka still hadn’t developed an antidote to the maddening honey, unfortunately. They were no strangers to chemical warfare but that didn’t mean they were immune to all toxins. Fortunately, the bees had some kind of antidote honey that would cure the intoxication…but they only shared it when the sigmaka ended their current challenge. And between the shades and pit traps, having even one of their warriors slightly intoxicated endangered not only themselves but the rest of the band that relied on them. The honey traps had ultimately ended more of their challenges than the Hunger…

So, her warriors grumbled and mumbled but none of them could seriously object to her call. They’d check the corner to fill out their map of the tunnels as much as they could, then let the bees know they were giving up. Fourth Queen Pezuya held back her own sigh. Truthfully, she was as frustrated as all the others as to their lack of progress, but they could not afford to lose warriors. They were here to gain strength, not injuries.

“I bet the karnuq didn’t have to do all this, lucky bears…”

She couldn’t help a quiet mumble under her breath, however.

“Fourth Queen!”

She was interrupted when Pramuweya shouted to her from the corner ahead. She growled, speaking just loud enough to carry her voice to the scout.

“Pramuweya, you know better than to shout!”

“But, Fourth Queen, you have to see this!”

Fourth Queen Pezuya held her head and grunted but she motioned to two of the warriors not drenched in maddening honey and then made her way down the tunnel, careful to avoid the honey trap in case it could spray more than once. She peeked her head around the corner.

“What is so…important…”

A bright light made her wince…only to stare. Light poured in from the end of the tunnel…which opened out into a verdant forest. A small wooden box stood on a couple legs just outside the tunnel, with bees hovering around it, a karnuq sentry standing to the side, and the wall of the box facing them removed. Glowing trays of honeycomb stood within.

One of the other warriors with her stated the obvious.

“It’s…the exit. Did we make it?”

Fourth Queen Pezuya narrowed her eyes.

“Not yet. Change of plans. Pramuweya, check every inch of this tunnel for traps. Once you’re done…let’s see if we can make it there before we call it.”

Pramuweya and the two warriors grinned. Fourth Queen Pezuya tried to keep her expression serious…but even she couldn’t stop the edges of her mouth from curling up. Finally, finally, they were about to make it through!

In the end, they managed to identify the traps in the final hallway and no shades attacked them. The group arrived at the honeycomb, whereupon the bees began to dance. The karnuq sentry smiled.

“They are congratulating you on making it through the first room. They ask if you’d like to exchange your honeydew now, or brave the next room.”

Some of the sigmaka warriors gaped.

“Next room?”

The karnuq smirked at them.

“And not nearly as easy as that one.”

Fourth Queen Pezuya cut off her growling warriors, scoffing at the obvious challenge.

“We’re calling it today regardless, we need three antidotes for maddening honey. So yes, we’ll make our exchange here.”

Fourth Queen Pezuya motioned the baggage carrier forward. The sigmaka took off the big pack on his bag and began to remove pouches full of honeydew. There was a table set out before the beehive and he placed the honeydew there. As he placed more and more pouches there, larger monster bees removed trays of the glowing honeycomb from the beehive and placed it on the sigmaka’s side of the table.

Fourth Queen Pezuya finally smiled. Now, they had done it. All that was left to do was pray at the Shrine of Bees and receive antidotes, and today’s challenge would be complete.

“Ah, Fourth Queen Pezuya, good to see you. I see your challenge is going well, so I hope I’m not interrupting. Would you have a moment to chat before you continue on?”

Fourth Queen Pezuya turned to see Chief Rohsuak approaching. She suddenly had a bad feeling about this…